The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) confirmed Monday that their national team had returned home after alleged “inhumane treatment” in Libya ahead of a 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.
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“The Nigeria delegation departed the Al-Abraq Airport at exactly 15.05 hours, bound for the city of Kano, and onwards to the Federal Capital, Abuja,” the NFF said in a statement.
NFF director of Communications, Ademola Olajire, outlined in a 20-point statement the team’s “ordeal on Libyan soil”, saying the “keenly-anticipated match” had been “relegated to a fiasco by Libyan federal authorities and Football Federation”.
The Nigerian team were held at an abandoned airport in Libya for more than 20 hours after their chartered flight landed Sunday. The Super Eagles had been due to land in Benghazi but their plane was instead diverted to Al Abraq, 230km (143 miles) away from their intended destination.
A formal complaint by Nigeria has been sent to the Confederation of African football (CAF) whose disciplinary board is now investigating the incident. Captain William Troost-Ekong had said the team would not make a three-hour bus ride from Al-Abraq to Benina, where the qualifier was scheduled to be played on Tuesday, for safety reasons.
“As the team captain together with the team we have decided that we will NOT play this game,” he posted on social media.
“Let them have the points. We will not accept to travel anywhere by road here even with security it’s not safe. We can only imagine what the hotel or food would be like given to us if we continued.”
CAF said they viewed “the disturbing and unacceptable experiences of the Nigerian National Football Team at an airport in Libya in a very serious light”.
The statement added that CAF had been in contact with both the Libyan and Nigerian authorities.
“Appropriate action will be taken against those who violated the CAF Statutes and Regulations” the statement concluded.
The Libyan football federation denied any impropriety, saying in a statement it had the “utmost respect” for Nigeria.
“There are no grounds to accuse the Libyan security teams or the Libyan Football Federation of deliberately orchestrating this incident,” it said. “Such actions are inconsistent with our values and principles. We firmly reject any claims that suggest foul play or sabotage in this situation.”
‘The team are not safe’
Former African footballer of the year Victor Ikpeba, who accompanied the Nigeria team to Libya, has urged for stiff sanctions against Libya and supported the decision to boycott the match.
“If CAF know their job, Libya ought to be banned from international football,” he told AFP. “This is a high-risk country and one really wonders who approved for Libya to be playing their games at home. I played for the Super Eagles for 10 years and I never experienced what I have in Libya in the last hours.”
“The team are not safe, those of us travelling with them are also not safe,” he added. “We were locked up in an abandoned airport for more than 10 hours like hostages. The team will call their bluff and not play this match.”
On Friday, Nigeria beat Libya 1-0 in the southern city of Uyo.
They lead Group D with seven points from three matches, while Libya are bottom of the standings on one point.
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